I don't know, it's possible. :P

Yeah, I had that problem too.
In one thread the site refused to let me post with a quote, but no quotes was fine.
It was bizarre.

How is "please don't misgender people" in any way political or controversial? Just don't misgender people. (Yes, this includes labeling people "cis" -- don't do it unless a person consents.) If someone requests weird pronouns that you don't want to use, use their username throughout. Style guides and examples abound on the interwebs, most prominent being the NYT.

Sure, there are users whose mental capabilities aren't up to using caps lock, but others should know better. It saddens me to see tinyE join the misgendering pile-on. It saddens me to see dtgreene play the model minority all the time and be excessively polite even to vicious assholes and still get treated like shit by the hugbox cult.

And Brasas -- my respect for trying and meaning well. We may not agree politically, but I appreciate your opinion on divisive community matters such as censorship, where positive rights can be claimed by all sides of the debate (side note: living in Russia, I know full well the persistent argument that private entities can't be nominal agents of censorship is bullshit). But I (almost) completely agree wuth your posts throughout the thread.

The community's mission isn't fully meeting a particular user's personal needs and accommodating everything which could be technically accomplished with forum software. (I rail against that fallacy every time someone requests features to assist shitposting, such as leaving content-free reviews.) When impersonal-you make a post, think whether it contributes to the community in a positive way. If it doesn't, you might be an asshole.

So uhm... why is almost every post here downvoted, including harmless jokes about Sean Connery? Did dtgreene borrow Tauto's army of alts to teach the people who dared to speak to him a lesson or what?

Have they actually asked for a specific pronoun? I admit I missed it if so. I try to use they or spell out greene... but see my reply to zeo, and a him slipped through... I pretty much default to male pronouns when unsure... not easy to catch all of them...

The feeling of respect is mutual. Given what I know of your life contexts you even have more than that, as I have a significant amount of sympathy for you. You are frequently even more abrasive than me though ;)

Seems it's working now...

Here goes, I had it saved on a txt since it ate my first attempt.

F&^%... misclick and get the post eaten :(

Sign I'm getting heated up, I'll rewrite and take a break to breathe.


Snowkatt, glad you replied. Truly. Because I don't know you enough to have addressed you individually, but I really wanted to.

So, can you define brute force? I thought posting on open forums was more like free speech... and like totally non violent?

I think you're being a bit more honest when you say this is annoying and grating. But then the question is why inflame that itch by scratching it, instead of soothe it with some ointment? At best you're feeding the troll and proving his point.

At worst... well... at worst I think you and others see very well this is not greene's agenda, this is their identity. And you are choosing to be disrespectful to a frightful level. You see they are trying to act strong, but that you are drawng blood, and you really want more blood.

It's like there's a boring person keeps coming to try and talk to you in a party, and instead of moving away or something, you push them? But of course, it's even past that level of aggressiveness now...



Speaking as the OP, greene's first post was very much on topic. And I agreed with 85% of it. His conclusion about downvoting I didn't agree - but I am clearly a minority on choosing to not use downvotes. As for the mob attacking greene... well let's check my OP:

- Avoiding repetitive arguments is valuable but taboos / banning are not universal solutions.
And yet, here we are and in effect I see an attempt to ostracize someone.
- If you feel you need to answer / respond to someone and their question or post looks like a challenge: be particularly aware of your own emotional engagement.
Really curious what about green's agenda is so annoying and grating. What makes it so difficult to just ignore?
- Be particularly considerate of newbies. Instead of being dismissive (also via joking) point them to FAQs, link to previous posts or maybe just ignore them (if you can't be constructive)?
Hurrah for small victories. Seeing the join dates, most involved have been around for a while. :(
- Be particularly considerate of numbers - what I would call mobbing - when the same person is being talked to by numerous others it is inevitable to feel overwhelmed, even if everyone is polite.
Yeah, kind of difficult to notice when one becomes a mob leader right? It just feels so right to push back against what to one is clearly wrong. And really... many already are far from polite IMO.
- Tone does wonders. Just all around being nice (no sarcasm, no irony, no dismissiveness) and taking others while assuming good faith. This ties back to emotional engagement. If you feel like you are talking to an enemy, you're probably part of the problem.
Oh shit... I will have to repeat myself here. I already mentioned how bad the tone has gotten and how strange it seems to me that greene is so itchy to you all. Why the Krush kill and destroy mode?

So... is this a conversation you want to have? I don't feel great about using greene as an example. If they have a bit of activist martyr complex this shit will reinforce it, but really... the way this thread went is mostly apalling and wholly disproportionate.


Actually. I want to ask the peanut gallery. Should I ask mods to lock the thread?
And greene, your opinion will be particularly considered, feel free to PM me.

Missed this earlier.

Taking advantage to point the key distinction. NO ONE will make anyone care. No one CAN make anyone care. So what if it's hard to care? You don't HAVE to.


All I'm trying to suggest in the OP is - if you care enough to downvote and actively try to push someone away, maybe, just maybe it would be better if you just let it go.

You don't have to make it better. Just don't make it worse. Tolerance instead of activism.

This is the pure essence of laissez-faire. The thread was political from the start. I mean:

What kind of polis do we want? It's just I tried to make it meta-political, rather than focus on any specific topic - hence the list of examples typical to GOG.

Dude greene wont let it go though.
He MUST push his agenda and turn everything every subject, every thread, he visits in to (sla) activism instead of just letting things be.

And that's what a lot of people on here are objecting to because it doesn't get through
I wil probably awnser this later.
I doubt my employer will be thrilled if I write out an essay during working hours.

Might turn it in to a note, so I wont bore others.

Probably there are some who just want fun and there are others who want different fun. And why shouldn't it all work together? You just post what you want as I post what I want and others post what they and if the mighty GOG of the forum gets angry, the thread may get closed. This is then the limit but it happens less often than important holidays. In this case have the serious conversations by private messages.

All in all, the community doesn't really exist in the sense of making any decisions. It's just a bunch of individuals in the house of a very generous (or ignorant) landlord.

I am too old stupid and lazy for this.

Anyone want to let bygons be bygons and talk about gaming?

i bought 3 final fantasies on steam

I totally understand what is pissing folks. Even If I don't get pissed in this particular I'm not saying anyone should or should not be pissed at greene.

All I'm saying is IF the problem is threads becoming a LGBT flame, it takes two to tango.

He's not doing it all by himself you know? You among others are the oxygen feeding the fire in this case. And he's clearly the wood getting burned to a crisp... to push this analogy way out there...

actually i usually ignore his screeds
just not this time ;p

He's the odd man out. The shortest straw. The black sheep. The last in line. The unlucky loser. The farm without a hen house. The iguana in the swimming pool. The....

I'm sorry. What were we talking about?

Indeed he is different. That's usually tough all in itself.
So why are so many so willing to make it even harder for him to fit in?

You don't need to be a genius to grok the dynamic here folks...

He isn't exactly making it easier for us to accept him either.
Like you said it takes two to tango.
And he isn't willing to give an inch, it's his way or no way.

And if it's no way, he plays the victim card. Which then gets threads to spiral out of control.